A Curtin University-run program to promote entrepreneurship in schools, funded by Timezone founder Malcolm Steinberg, has launched with Department of Education backing.
A Curtin University-run program to promote entrepreneurship in schools, funded by Timezone founder Malcolm Steinberg, has launched with Department of Education backing.
Officially revealed at startup investment conference West Tech Fest, the Young Entrepreneurs Academy Western Australia will train teachers in the field, connect schools to the entrepreneurial ecosystem, and advocate for enterprise skills to be embedded across the curriculum.
Teacher and Westpac Future Leaders Scholarship holder Cameron Thorn has been appointed inaugural director of the academy, which has about $1.5 million in funding, mainly from the Steinberg family’s philanthropic Malka Foundation.
On top of Curtin, Malka and the Department of Education, the academy’s consortium includes Spacecubed, St Catherine’s College, and All Saints’ Beyond Boundaries Institute.
Minister for Innovation and Digital Technology, and Science Stephen Dawson launched YEA WA at West Tech Fest, surrounded by schoolchildren attending and exhibiting at the week-long conference’s main event in Perth’s CBD.
The academy is the biggest step yet in the vision of Mr Steinberg, who started Timezone in Perth in the 1970s, growing it to be an international brand that is now part of an entertainment empire jointly owned with private equity partner Quadrant.
He believes entrepreneurial thinking is required to diversify WA's economy and make the most of the abundance of wealth generated by resources.
Mr Steinberg also believes that entrepreneurialism can have exponentially more impact in lower socioeconomic areas.
Malka had previously partnered with several secondary and tertiary education providers, although Curtin and St Catherine’s Bloom program were its main beneficiaries.
Two months ago, Malka committed $5 million to boost Curtin University's planned $25 million program to develop entrepreneurial and innovation education over the next five years.
Malka chair Nicole Lockwood told Business News the academy’s ambition was a state-wide approach to developing entrepreneurial thinking in students and that required the endorsement of the state school system.
